Circa 2017
Researchers at Tohoku University have gained new insight into the electronic processes that guide the transformation of liquids into a solid crystalline or glassy state.
The ability of some liquids to transition into glass has been exploited since ancient times. But many fundamental aspects of this transition phase are far from understood. Better understanding could spur the development of new products such as DVDs or Blu-Ray discs that store data by altering their state of matter from one to another, and of new glass materials.
A multi-institutional Japanese team led by Kenichiro Hashimoto of Tohoku University’s Institute for Materials Research compared the molecular dynamics of glass formation in conventional liquids, such as glucose, to an organic metal material containing ‘frustrated’ electrons. These electrons, responsible for conducting electrical currents, are unable to reach their lowest energy state due to their geometric arrangement on the material’s crystal lattice.
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